Mad Bets: US Open Tennis Betting Odds

Minty Bets is joined by VSiN's Gill Alexander to give the best picks for the upcoming 2020 US Open in New York City.

Video Transcript

MINTY BETS: The 2020 US Open takes place in New York starting Monday, August 31. If you guys want to bet on the US Open, head over to betmgm.com/yahoo. Gil Alexander of VSiN is here with me to give us his best bets.

Gill, let's start with the women's side. Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams are the top picks here and are +550 to win outright. Are you sold on either of these players?

GILL ALEXANDER: I am not. I'll tell you why. I don't-- first of all, with Serena, I just don't trust her game right now. I don't trust her. We've seen her in her previous tune-up tournaments of the Western and Southern Open. Don't trust her.

Naomi Osaka would be a play for me if the price was way different, but I certainly don't like her at the price that she has right now as one of the two sure shots, as you say.

MINTY BETS: OK, so who do you like for the women then?

GILL ALEXANDER: I made two bets already. I'll tell you who I've bet. I bet Sofia Kenin, who is the reigning Australian Open champ. She was a huge winner for us back in January, pre-pandemic. I love her game. I love her mental steeliness. She's at about 15 to 1. I'm not sure where it is right now, but that's where I bet it.

And the other lady that I really love as a sort of longer shot is Ons Jabeur from Tunisia. Kenin would be my biggest play. The nice thing-- I should say-- I don't know if nice is the right word.

But the interesting thing about the lady side of the US Open, the are so many absences, including six of the top 10 players in the world.

So Ash Barty, Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina, Bianca Andreescu, who's really-- can't be overstated how her absence really makes this a bettable tournament. If she was in it, she'd probably be the person I'd bet on.

MINTY BETS: Good to know. All right, now moving on to the men's. Big names like Federer and Nadal are out, and Djokovic is kind of the heavy favorite at -125 right now. Do you have someone in mind with a little more value?

GILL ALEXANDER: The men's side is so much more difficult than the women's side. The women's side is a real free-for-all. If you can get Djokovic in at -125 or better, I would bet Novak Djokovic. It's really that simple. You know, as you said, there's no Federer or Nadal.

That's the biggest thing here. Nadal's gonna just wait and try to win to French Open, which he'll probably be successful doing. If there is a flier out there, you know, people are sort of tempted by the talents of Dennis Shapovalov of all of Canada. He's at about 40 to 1.

He's so good but so unreliable. So, I mean, it's tough. If you want to force a bet just to have some fun, that's something, but, really, it's Djokovic's tournament to lose. And in this rare case, I would play the chalk.

MINTY BETS: Thank you so much, Gill. You guys can catch Gill not only on the VSiN, but also on "Beating the Book" podcast. During football season, he's on twice a week.

If you want in on the action, head over to betmgm.com/yahoo. New users get 100% match up to $1,000. Available in Colorado, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Indiana.

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